Wednesday, October 5, 2011

"Paneer" Tikka Masala

I just got back from a wonderful trip to Asheville, NC, where I ate a lot of vegan food (especially amazing at THIS PLACE), sampled some badass local IPAs, climbed a few mountains, and hung out with the coolest 60-somethings in the world. I'm savoring the campfire smell on my sweater and jacket, and I hope it doesn't go away too soon.

But to catch up. In keeping with the British-Indian-fusion theme, I made this dish, which was like a breath of fresh (and spicy) air. I've really been digging this blog I recently found! The mixture is quite a bit like that of the Asian Vegan Kitchen cookbook.

Using tofu for paneer and coconut milk for milk/yogurt was a breeze! I've never had this dish in its dairytastic form, but the combination of textures and flavors here was pretty damn near perfect. Toasty, tangy, richly nutty, pungent, all at once. Pressing the tofu and frying it made it nearly impossible to differentiate from paneer... and even though the recipe made a lot of sauce in relation to the tofu, it was so delicious that I was happy to just eat that with rice when I ran out of tofu. A serving size of 4-6 seems super optimistic. For one package of tofu, I'd say 2-3 servings, with a generous helping of sauce.

Now, I like spicy food, but I was a little freaked out by the instructions to use four dry chilies and 1 TB cayenne. I halved each of these amounts, and it was still medium-high hot. When in doubt, lowball it and add more later. On the topic of spices, also note that the recipe calls for two premixed spice blends: tandoori spice powder (recipe follows) and garam masala.

Other substitutions were of convenience: I used 1 TB tomato paste instead of a tomato, and for the TB dried fenugreek leaves, I used 1/2 tsp ground fenugreek. Actually, this dish still had a really strong fennel/fenugreek flavor, so you might even want to use less.

1. Mix together tandoori powder and 1/4 c coconut milk; add tofu and stir until they're totally coated; marinate for around 30 minutes.
2. Combine the onion, 1 TB tomato paste, garlic, ginger, cilantro, and chilies in a food processor and process (adding reserved chili water as necessary) until it's a coarse paste.
3. In a large sauce pan or saucier, heat the oil to a high heat and fry the marinated tofu till slightly crispy. Remove from pan and drain.
4. Separately to make the gravy, heat oil and fry onion paste for about 5 minutes till fragrant. Add dry coriander, fennel, and cayenne, stir well.
5. Add tomato paste, remaining coconut milk, and water, stir well, close the lid and let it cook for 5-10 minutes. When gravy starts to simmer add fenugreek, garam masala, and salt to taste.
6. Turn off heat, mix tofu with gravy, and add lemon juice to taste. Serves about 3.

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In adapting a recipe for tandoori masala powder, I toasted and ground as many whole spices as seemed feasible... surely it can only make things more flavorful? I also omitted mace and substituted a LOT of paprika in place of food coloring.

With the exception of the non-toasted ingredients, toast each ingredient separately, taking care not to burn them. Set aside to cool, then grind and combine with remaining ingredients. Store leftovers in an airtight container. Makes about 1/4 c.

Thanks for acknowledging and posting link to my recipe. It's interesting read your view, coz we are quiet used to eating spicy food from childhood, so my recipe is actually very mild for us. Tofu looks very yummy!

Hi Janet! I used coconut milk for both yogurt and full fat milk, so I think you'd be fine using it as a substitute. If you wanted it richer, you could do the trick where you refrigerate the can of coconut milk and then scoop the cream off the top when you open the can... yum, coconut cream...